DaysofPal- In a searing address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, delivered one of the strongest condemnations yet of the international community’s failure to prevent starvation in Gaza.
Fakhri declared that “the UN died in Gaza” , a symbolic expression of moral collapse, when two Palestinian children, two-month-old Mahmoud Fattouh and 10-year-old Yazan al-Kafarneh, died from starvation and dehydration in February and March of last year.
Their deaths, he said, marked a grim milestone in the Israeli deliberate starvation campaign against the Palestinian population.
“These were the first children to have reportedly been killed by malnutrition, dehydration and hunger during the recent Israeli starvation campaign in Gaza,” Fakhri said.
Speaking before a General Assembly committee, Fakhri painted a devastating picture of Gaza’s humanitarian collapse and the paralysis of the UN system.
He argued that when parents are forced to watch their children die from hunger, it reflects the breakdown not only of food systems but of humanity itself.
“When a parent is helplessly holding their starving child in their arms, looking into their child’s eyes, who is dying from hunger, it indicates an entire society is under attack, and that famine is taking hold,” he said.
“Every time any child dies from hunger, dehydration and malnutrition, the world slips more into the abyss.” He added.
Fakhri stated that the Israeli occupation is conducting “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history”, asserting that starvation has been used as a weapon of war.
Despite the recent ceasefire, he said, the siege continues to strangle Gaza, preventing food, water, fuel, and humanitarian aid from reaching civilians.
The UN expert also issued a bold call for concrete action. He urged the General Assembly to adopt a resolution authorizing UN peacekeepers to escort humanitarian convoys into Gaza, to ensure that aid reaches civilians without obstruction.
“If peacekeepers are not used to stop starvation and genocide, then what else are we doing here?” Fakhri asked.
Fakhri’s remarks reflect growing frustration within the UN system and among humanitarian agencies over the inability to protect civilians in Gaza, where over two million people remain trapped under siege conditions.
Multiple UN agencies, including UNRWA, WFP, and OCHA , have repeatedly warned of widespread famine across the territory, especially in the north, where children have been documented suffering from acute malnutrition.
His comments have sparked renewed debate about the credibility and effectiveness of the United Nations in responding to what many legal experts and human rights organizations are calling a case of genocide unfolding in real time.
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